Best graphics card for under £200

[DarylVTR]

Hey peeps,

In your opinion what graphics card is the best for around £200? I currently have a 9800GTX+ which is really good, but i still cant push games like crysis and far cry 2 to very high settings without getting lagg which bugs me.

Which cards do people own? I am still toying with the idea of SLI'ing another 9800GTX+ But not too sure. Some games like COD4 / COD5 / FALLOUT 3 i can play maxed out no problems.

Running AMD Phenom 9550+ quad core and corsair 6Gb of DDR2 800

[Karl]

ATI HD4870.
Mine rocks.

iirc 2 x 9800GTX's will be better than a 4870 for you as Crysis actually utilizes SLI.

Will have the new Crysis by the end of the week, will let you know my spec and FPS when i get it going pal.

[DarylVTR]

ATI HD4870.
Mine rocks.

iirc 2 x 9800GTX's will be better than a 4870 for you as Crysis actually utilizes SLI.

Will have the new Crysis by the end of the week, will let you know my spec and FPS when i get it going pal.


Ive never had the guts to move over to ATI as their drivers used to suck..... dont know what they are like now though?? That would be good karl, thanks MATE. Crysis Warhead runs ok untill you get to the hovercraft mission then it boggs down big style

[Karl]

Drivers are alot lighter,
we have some Toss ATI drivers for some of the machines @ work.
130mb for video drivers? LOL no thanks.

my 4870 drivers including the catalyst control panel rubbish. (cant find it without) was 30mb, which is less than the driver file size of my 9600GT ~

Had a few bad experiences with NVidia in the last couple of years,

6800 GT - packed up,
replaced with 6800 GS - became intermittent.
9600GT - very hit and miss, chance it wouldnt emit a signal @ boot. Drivers crashing mid game etc.

9600GT is supposedly a great card perhaps i got hit with a bad one, should have a new one sent to me soon,

so I chanced it and bought a decent 4870.

[DarylVTR]

Shame ive got an expertvision 9800GTX+ really as i cant find another.... i know you can mix makes but having 2 the same is better looking ;)

IM still quite scared to go over to ATI, i guess its like AMD and Intel..... i know ATI is AMD which i have always used and trusted so maybe its worthwhile. hmm

[MarkyG]

Im building a new system at the moment moving from AMD over to Intel! Q9650 @ 3ghz QC stock IIRC!

For under £200, look on overclockers Daryl, they have some good deals on at the moment. Got a ncie Dark Knight edition 4870 for under £200, or for £11 more get a 1gb Powercoloer ati chipset one!

Ive personally gone for a XFX 280 GTX XXX Edition, running at 2.5ghz core, and got myself a ncie little air cooler for it. But they are £340 + at the moment. All to go into a XFX NForce 790i board!

[DarylVTR]

280 is too expensive, dont think i could spent £320 odd on a graphics card!!!

Options are another 9800GTX+, an HD4870 1GB, Geforce 260 or stick with the single 9800GTX+... only want to upgrade if im going to see a good performance increase.

[Karl]

2 x 9800 GTX for performance now.

or sell the 9800 GTX now get a fair amount for it...

buy a single 4870 then you always have the option by a 2nd one in the future if need be.

[MarkyG]

agreed with Karl, either buy another 9800GTX+ or go for the 4870 1gb. SLi and Crossfire twin runnig you wont notice much of a difference in games. Especially fi they aren't sli ready platformed.

Karl -- £320 is a lot for a gpu i know, but reading the reviews of the XFX 280 GTX XXX i decided to go for it. Decided to build a new system as my current one i dont use much for gaming, even though it has high end parts its mainly for emails and the odd download and here at Sax-P of course! lol. Also want somethijng that is gonna last me, what with air cooling technology these days my new Q9650 @ 3ghz will easily overclock to at least 4.2ghz with the right voltages and the like on my new Zalman 9700NT cooler, big b*st*rd of a fna though but does the trick, sometimes it doesnt even spin it keeps things that cold with the heatsink on it :D